South Magazine Winter 2022/Spring 2023

USA BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Leader Profiles
ALEXIS ATKINS
Vice Chair of Board
of Trustees sees change
and growth
LENUS PERKINS
From Birmingham
business executive to
secretary of the USA
Board of Trustees
As a working mother taking night classes in the 1990s,
Alexis Atkins did not have much time to invest in
extracurriculars at the University of South Alabama.
She’s certainly made up for that since.
Her contributions at South include membership on
the Executive Advisory Council of the Mitchell College
of Business and the Board of Directors of the Jaguar
Athletic Fund. She was president of the National Alumni
Association and is currently vice chair of the University’s
Board of Trustees.
She’s seen great change at South.
“Today, it’s incredible, with all the new buildings and
beautiful grounds,” said Atkins, who studied human
resources development and earned a bachelor’s
degree in 1997. “And there’s USA Health and all of the
hospital facilities. It’s been very exciting to be a part
of that.”
Atkins, vice president of human resources and coowner
of Budweiser Busch Distributing Inc. of Mobile,
is past chairman of Feeding the Gulf Coast (formerly the
Bay Area Food Bank) and past president of Executive
Women International. Recently, she was honored by
the Yellowhammer news outlet as an Alabama Woman
of Impact.
In 2016, Atkins was nominated to replace Sandy
Stimpson, the mayor of Mobile, on the Board of Trustees.
She considers it an honor to serve the University. She’s
proud of having served as chair of the board’s search
committee that recommended Jo Bonner, the former
congressman from Mobile, become the fourth president
of the University of South Alabama.
“He will make us the Flagship of the Gulf Coast,” Atkins
said. “His background in state and federal afairs will be
a great help in moving the University forward.”
Atkins and her husband, Michael, live in Mobile and
together have fve children.
On the day after Christmas, 1985, Lenus Perkins left
West Africa to study civil engineering at the University of
South Alabama.
His biggest problem was the language barrier.
Perkins spoke fuent English, coming from Liberia, but
had never heard a thick Southern drawl.
“It was a cultural shock,” he said, laughing. “I really did
struggle to understand Southerners. I remember one of
my professors in chemistry had a thick accent. Finally, I
went to him and said I couldn’t understand what he was
saying, and he spent some extra time with me.”
More than 30 years later, Perkins is a South graduate
and Birmingham business executive who serves as
secretary of the USA Board of Trustees. It’s an honor he
never expected. Along the way, he’s learned how to say
“y’all,” talk about American food and football, and value
the culture of opportunity in his adopted country.
He continues to keep in touch with his mentor, Dr.
Kevin White, emeritus professor of civil, coastal and
environmental engineering.
“Going to South, I learned to appreciate so much,”
he said. “Even now, that’s my perspective. I want to do
everything in my power to make the institution grow
and draw international students and students from less
fortunate families.”
After earning his civil engineering degree from
South in 1991, Perkins began a career with Bhate
Environmental Associates. As the company’s executive
vice president, he is responsible for corporate oversight
and program management for business units of the
company – environmental remediation, compliance,
construction, and business development strategies for
local, state and federal contracts, including with the U.S.
Defense and State departments.
Perkins and wife, Michelle, live in Birmingham;
the couple has two children and a niece they raised
from Liberia.
32 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA